As we draw nearer to elections many have stepped up their prayer game and maybe those who had been in the habit of bunking church are also making an effort to put in an appearance. One thing I find myself wondering is whether things are actually going to change. It’s clear there are a number of sectors that could use revival, but my concern is more about us, the people.
We have lived in lack for so long could we really handle it if the drought were over? I mean some of us got lucky and found loop holes to cheat the system and the rest of us are in prayer that maybe just maybe luck will win the elections and change things. We are trying to rebuild an economy, repair infrastructure and reform the nation with eleventh-hour hope and my question is why now when the opportunity to live responsibly was never been taken from us?
Yes there was no money in the bank, there were moments our preferred products were missing from the shelves and yes much terror went unreported. However, of all these things were the shackles that bound us so forcibly to mediocrity? There were none, we were simple minded and that became our portion.
If everything normalised overnight could we regulate ourselves to be fair in business and put the needs of others ahead of our own? If we each had an opportunity to get rich without the die-trying what would we do with the money? If we put a bin at every street corner could that provision really stop littering?
If we speak louder against gender-based violence could that really stop its perpetrators? Perhaps it’s not a problem of resources but a problem of us. I remember a wise pastor pointing out that if we do not know the purpose of a thing it opens the door to abuse of the thing. With all this prayer going around I’m just wondering why we have the wherewithal to set aside the time to pray but don’t have the wherewithal to set aside the space in our hearts for God.
Prayer is only a solution when we understand its true purpose. That being said what are we even saying in the prayer closet? Are we listing all the things that are wrong? Are we telling the heavens that we have loosed the strongholds that have kept us down for too long? or are we pleading with our “merciless” God to forgive our sins and heal our land?
For a nation that prays so much we surely have little to show for our efforts. You don’t have to go far before someone tries to rip you off (even church folk) and we are so accustomed to kuvharwa that we just shake it off and move on unless we are connections with the “sekuru” types who specialise in getting things back or we have a point to prove by being equally devious ourselves.
I was having a chat with a man of contagious faith the other day and he said something profound. He said that if he were rushing to church and saw a man lying on the ground unconscious and unattended he would rather stop and attend to the man than be the first to arrive at church because he had left the man on the ground.
Maybe it’s time to revisit the whole concept of faith. People of faith are ambassadors of the good news, they believe that God is good and that we are the instruments of His goodness, around them there is always hope and love and these are what draw the lost into the kingdom not fancy sermons or complicated conferences.
The day we stop self-soothing with prayer is the day that we will start to see meaningful results. Like babies we have allowed ourselves to believe that prayer is a lullaby, a one-time solution for our colic that puts the pep back in our step. Prayer does change things but very specific things which are governed by the principles of God and these directly affect the results we get.
Faith drives successful prayer and that is because instead of vain repetitions it inspires people to get up and do something to bring change. In order for change to come it must be invited by our faith and actions.
My prayer today is for us to stop praying where we should be acting and for us to go directly to God for guidance on the best way to do this. Amen
